Four vying to replace Williams in Senate

By Kiah Collier |
March 10, 2014
| Updated: March 10, 2014 3:54pm

All eyes are on high-stakes runoffs on May 27, but another election is scheduled before then to settle a four-way contest to fill the seat vacated last year by state Sen. Tommy Williams.

A special election will be held on May 10 in Harris and surrounding counties to determine the next state senator from District 4, which spans all of Jefferson and Chambers counties and portions of Harris, Montgomery and Galveston counties. Early voting begins April 28 and ends May 6.

The four Republican candidates on the ballot include: Former District 4 senator Michael Galloway, who served from 1994 to 1998; two Montgomery County state representatives – freshman Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, and Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who heads the House Republican caucus; and Gordy Bunch, a board member of The Woodlands Township.

Galloway sought a second term in 1998, and secured the GOP nomination, but lost to Democrat David Bernsen in the general election. He ran again in 2002, but narrowly lost to Williams in a runoff. Both Toth and Creighton voluntarily resigned their House seats after entering the race.

Willliams, R-The Woodlands, left the upper chamber last October after a decade in office to serve as the vice chancellor of federal and state relations for the Texas A&M University System.